Post by QPR Report on Dec 2, 2008 23:31:56 GMT
This is Local London
South Americans dazzle as Wanderers go seven points clear
By Dave Peters »
Wycombe 4, Macclesfield 0.
WYCOMBE Wanderers opened up a seven-point lead at the top of League Two as they bounced back from Saturday's FA Cup shocker in style.
The injury-hit Blues showed that their weekend defeat at the hands of an Eastwood Town side 72 places below them was nothing more than an embarrassing blip.
Ravaged by injuries and illness, Wanderers made light work of beating a Macclesfield side who had lost just once since the original fixture was snowed off.
Macc had no answer to the silky skills of Wanderers' South American strikeforce of Brazilian Magno Vieira and on-loan Colombian Angelo Balanta who ran them ragged.
Both scored their first goals for the club as Peter Taylor's much-changed team dazzled under the lights.
Vieira opened the scoring just 11 minutes in, turning sharply in the box and finishing in style after Tommy Doherty had threaded the ball through the eye of a needle.
But his South American partner in crime wasn't going to be outdone, doubling the home side's advantage with a wonderful second on the stroke of halt time bent in from 20-yards – the only problem was that big-wigs from his parent club QPR were there to see Balanta do it and, on this form, they will be wanting him back soon.
Vieira and Balanta were causing the Silkmen all manner of problems but they didn't even have to work to net Wanderers' third.
Macc defender Shaun Brisley let keeper Scott Shearer's big punt run through to his own goalkeeper John Brain who inexplicably let the ball go between his legs giving Vieira the simplest tap-in he will ever get to make it 3-0 Wycombe on 52 minutes.
It was a horror moment from Brain who had performed heroics to bail his out-of-sorts team-mates out on at least four occasions in the first half denying Balanta, Vierra, Franck Moussa and Lewis Hunt.
Before the kick-off fans might have feared Wanderers would struggle with a trio of strikers out injured, with Matt Harrold, Chris Zebroski and Simon Church all sidelined.
Despite that boss Peter Taylor resisted the temptation to trigger the 24-hours recall notice inserted in Scott McGleish's loan move to Northampton – but then he sees Vieira every day in training.
Vieira, who has so far only been a bit part player since arriving from non-league Crawley Town in the summer, repaid the Gaffer's faith with an accomplished performance which will give Taylor a selection headache when he gets all his injured players back.
But the English players also got in on the act with centre half Leon Johnson tucking in a 70th minute fourth to wrap up Wanderers biggest win of the season after Brain had spilled Lewwis Spence's low free kick.
Francis Green and Nat Brown both went close to pulling back a consolation goal for the Silkmen but the game was all over by then.
There was even time for fans' favourite Matt Bloomfield to come on for the last five minutes as he continues to fight his way back after his cruciate injury.
www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/sport/sporttopstories/3944285.South_Americans_dazzle_as_Wanderers_go_seven_points_clear/